I have often bought airline tickets online - as long as that facility has been available. And always two days later an absolutely normal ticket was found in my snail-mail box.
Yesterday I bought online at swissair.com for the first time. The confirmation display said: "Delivery: Electronic Ticket".
Does anybody know exactly what that means? Does it for instance mean that I simply walk up to the check-in counter with my passport and my booking code from my confirmation e-mail and say "hey, here I am"?
I need to know no later than 8th September. Or I may miss a well deserved holiday week in the Alps.
Best regards, Preben Norholm

When booking online, you usually get the choice of a paper ticket by mail or an e-ticket. Whenever possible, I travel by e-ticket. On Air Canada, when I check-in, I tell them I have an e-ticket, give them my Confirmation Code and some form of photo ID plus the credit card I used to pay for my flight. I've also used electronic check-in where I insert my AeroPlan card in the machine and it confirms my reservation and produces my boarding pass.

Book your seat(s) on the Swissair website, through a Swissair call centre or travel office and choose electronic ticketing
Eletronic tickets issued via the Swissair website are confirmed by e-mail, fax or regular mail.
At the airport, go directly to the check-in counter, identify yourself (with a Qualiflyer card, credit card, ID or passport) and receive your boarding card
Or even faster, at one of our self-service machines at the airports of Basel, Brussels, Geneva, London-Heathrow and Zurich. You can even check-in with up to one piece of registered baggage (except in Basel and London). In any case, your Qualiflyer- or personal credit card is needed for identification.
You can also rebook flights and have your e>ticket changed via telephone.
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And if you are a Travelclub member you can also just walk thru a gate and you are automatically checked in. I saw this thing in Zurich.

We usually get an email with our confirmation code and seat assignments.
3-4 weeks later (if the trip is long time away) we receive a "Ticket By Mail", all that is is a passenger recipt and itinerary. We go to the airport and give them the itinerary and presto! were ready to go.

Sorry about the spelling.

My views as expressed above are my views alone and do not constitute the views of my employer.

I've flown many times on Southwest with an e-ticket, and all I do is show my driver license at the gate. They look up the reservation/ticket by my name and hand me the boarding card.

Continental's great with their e-ticket machines, too. If you have an e-ticket, you insert a credit card (to establish identity), the computer looks up your reservation, you can sleect your seat, and print your own boarding pass. You can check baggage, too, but that does require one of their humans to assist.

Thanks a lot for your help.
I must always have been too busy when ordering online. I simply never noticed that the web offered a choise between ordinary ticket and e-ticket, and I never heard about e-tickets before. Of course they are the future. I will probably never see a real ticket again.
Best regards, Preben Norholm